Franklin Benjamin - Franklin & Washington: the founding partnership

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Contents

ON MAY 13, 1787 , one day before the scheduled start of the Constitutional Convention, Virginia delegate George Washington arrived in Philadelphia and, as his first formal act, visited Benjamin Franklin at his home. Everyone knew Washington would chair the Convention and, if it succeeded, lead the nation. Franklin then served as president of Pennsylvania, the host state, and stood as the only American with stature comparable to Washingtons. By all accounts, they were the two indispensable authors of American independence and key partners in any attempt to craft a more perfect union at the Convention.

Although they had different views on what was needed in a new constitution, both men agreed that fundamental reform was essential. Less than a month earlier, Franklin wrote to Thomas Jefferson about the Convention, If it does not do Good it must do Harm, as it will show that we have not Wisdom enough among us to govern ourselves. Franklin and Washington had staked their lives and fortunes on the American experiment in liberty and were committed to its preservation.

Escorted into Philadelphia by a military guard and greeted with the ringing of bells and cheers of townspeople, Washington no sooner unloaded his luggage at Robert Morriss mansion, where he was staying, than he called upon Franklin. Some historians surmise that, for added dignity, Washington rode the two blocks between the Morris and Franklin homes on Market Street in his fashionable carriage. I suspect he walked. The distance was almost too short to ride, Washington enjoyed walking, and any visit from the general carried dignity. More critically, riding would mean turning into the newly constructed street-front arch and arriving at Franklins interior courtyard with an enslaved Black coachman and two liveried slaves serving as footmen. Seven years earlier, Quaker Pennsylvania became the first state to end slavery by statute and, by the time of Washingtons visit, Franklin presided over the states leading abolition society. Among his many gifts, Washington was an astute politician and pitch-perfect political actor who knew how to forge alliances. Arriving by carriage would not impress the down-to-earth Franklin and the attendance of slaves might offend him. Having known Franklin for more than thirty years, Washington would have understood how to greet himjust as Franklin would know how to welcome Washington.

Although not as accomplished an inventor or scientist as Franklinno one in America wasWashington had an enlightened mind that embraced inventions and appreciated science. While it was modest in comparison to Washingtons Mount Vernon estate, Franklins recently remodeled house included features certain to delight Washington. An enlarged second-floor library held more than four thousand books, making it one of the largest private collections in America; a glass armonica of Franklins own design, for which he composed music; and his already fabled electrical equipment. I hardly know how to justify building a Library at an Age that will so soon oblige me to quit it, Franklin, then eighty, had written to his sister six months earlier but by now had probably forgotten such reservations. Boyish in his enthusiasm despite physical infirmities, Franklin also likely showed Washington a mechanical arm used to retrieve books from upper shelves, an early type of copying machine that employed slow-drying ink and a press to duplicate newly written letters, and a reading chair with foot pedals to propel a fan. Few visitors would have appreciated such curiosities more than the mechanically minded Washington. Indeed, he purchased a fan chair while in Philadelphia for use at his Mount Vernon library.

After the house tour, Franklin likely discussed prospects for the Convention with Washington over tea or wine. It would have been tea in Franklins youth, but he had developed a taste for fine wines while serving in Paris during the Revolution. Washington also enjoyed wine. They would reunite for dinner at Franklins house three days later, when Franklin opened a cask of dark English beer to everyones delight, but wine was more fitting for an afternoon visit. Perhaps reserving the large, remodeled dining room for the later dinner, this talk probably occurred at an outdoor table set under a large mulberry tree in Franklins garden. Following his return from Europe, Franklin had turned this space from growing vegetables into a flower garden that would have been in full bloom by mid-May. Over the summer, he frequently entertained Convention delegates there. This would have been its first such use, and perhaps the most important. Franklin and Washington would go out from there to forge a nation from thirteen states.

MY DEAR FRIEND were the last words that Benjamin Franklin addressed to George Washington. They came at the end of a letter written in what Franklin knew would be his final year of life. Washington closed his response to Franklin with the salutation Your sincere friend. In this exchange, written in the first year of Washingtons presidency, each expressed his undying respect and affection for the other, with Franklin adding esteem and Washington topping him with veneration. At the time, Franklin and Washington were the two most admired individuals in the United States, and the most famous Americans in the world.

Their final letters to each other represented a fitting end to a three-decade-long partnership that, more than any other pairing, would forge the American nation. Their relationship began during the French and Indian War, when Franklin supplied the wagons for British general Edward Braddocks ill-fated assault on Fort Duquesne and Washington buried the generals body under the dirt road traveled by those retreating wagons. Both had warned Braddock against the frontier attack. Rekindled in 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, this friendship continued through the American Revolution, the Constitutional Convention, and the establishment of the new federal government. Perhaps because of differences in their background, age, manner, and public image, their relationship was not widely commented on then, and it remains little discussed today. But it existed, and helped to shape the course of American history. Both men have been called the first American, but they were friends first and, unlike John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, never rivals.

Their relationship gained historical significance during the American Revolution, when Franklin led Americas diplomatic mission in Europe and Washington commanded the Continental Army. Victory required both of these efforts to succeed, and their success required coordination and cooperation. No less an authority than Jefferson testified to the success of their efforts when, after the Revolution, he observed that, in terms of their contributions to the patriot cause, the world had drawn a broad line between Washington and Franklin on the one side, and the residue of mankind on the other. Their successful collaboration during the Revolution, especially when coupled with their role as two of the most prominent delegates at the Constitutional Convention, helped to found a nation and propel a global experiment with individual liberty and republican rule.

Leadership at this level is a rare quality and well worth study. Leadership studies, however, typically focus on individuals, either singly or in comparative analysis. Pairs or teams are less often the center of study unless they collaborate in some formal institutionalized manner, such as members of a cabinet or business partners. Franklin and Washington never had official ties, yet they worked together toward a common cause with extraordinary success. To explore their historic collaboration, this book traces their shared history in a dual biography that looks for overlaps and stresses connections.

Despite differences in public image and private style, striking similarities emerge. Both men had successful business and political careers in late colonial America and led their respective colonies defense during the French and Indian War. After long supporting royal rule in the colonies, both became key early proponents of independence. Both then sought to strengthen the union of the states, leading to the framing and ratification of the Constitution. Instinctively, each worked to forge consensus and lead through others.